9:34am Thursday 9th September 2010
By Andrew Napier
A VANDALISED artwork that marked the last resting place of Alfred the Great in Winchester is set to be replaced.
Members of the Friends of Hyde Abbey Garden are being urged to approve the reproduction of the engraved glass panel that showed the historic church.
The £5,000 glass panel was smashed by a vandal in July.
A public consultation over the summer has shown support for a replica and the trustees of FoHAG are recommending to members that a replacement be installed at the garden near the River Park Leisure Centre.
A meeting of the 150-member FoHAG will be held at Hyde Parish Hall on Saturday October 16 at 10.45am to make a decision.
Sue Nelmes, chairman of the trustees and a former mayor, said: “The consultation showed that people would prefer to see the glass back. The general view is that we cannot be beaten by vandals.
“If it is not replaced there will be a gap in that space. We would be desperately unhappy about the loss of the magic that that glass engraving gave. Whatever the time of day it always looked different. It was beautiful.”
Mrs Nelmes said the replacement which would cost between £5-10,000 to install would be stronger and more vandal-proof than the first panel which lasted five years.
The city council will be asked if it would expand its CCTV network to cover the garden.
The artist, Tracey Sheppard, who lives in Hyde, has said she would be willing to create another artwork.
Barbara Hall who campaigned for the garden to be created in the first place, said yesterday: “I’m delighted the trustees have come to the decision, I look forward to a positive outcome on October 16.
“I make no bones of the fact I long to see it replaced. It was a thing of such beauty and one has to stand up to vandalism,” she said.
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